


Solar Sailor

by aph_pasta



Category: Cowboy Bebop (Anime), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bounty Hunters, Alternate Universe - Cowboy Bebop, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Bounty Hunter Kirishima Eijirou, Coming of Age, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Trans Character, Trans Kaminari Denki
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:07:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27952064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aph_pasta/pseuds/aph_pasta
Summary: Denki has a second chance at life. He hopes for mundane, something he's never had, but maybe mundanity isn't all it's cracked up to be.Eijiro doesn't need anyone except himself, except for when he does.Cowboy Bebop inspired bounty hunters AU
Relationships: Kaminari Denki/Kirishima Eijirou
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Solar Sailor

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there, and thank you so much for coming to read my fic, whether you've never seen my writing before or have been a fan for a long time! I think it's really interesting how no matter what fandom I'm in, I always end up coming back to sci-fi (and more specifically, Cowboy Bebop AUs). This story started as an RP starter, and I'm glad it didn't continue that way because I've had so much fun coming up with the plot and creating the characters. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and if you like this, please check out my other fic, Saving Throw! (Chapter 2 should be out soon)
> 
> Content warning for slightly graphic descriptions of injuries including electrical burns

Just like its namesake, the Commodore 64 was a clunky old thing, now running on borrowed time and crossed fingers. At the time of its manufacture, it was innovative and sleek, with never-before-seen warp engines which cut the length of a trip between Earth and Mars in half, and innovative puzzle-piece wings, which made repairing meteorite damage a breeze. Fifty years later, though, and the warp engines crawled next to the nearly silent engines of modern ships, and the puzzle wings were clunky and awkward, catching debris in the space between pieces until they broke off, sending the driver into a nauseating spin through the stars. The Commodore was the best Neptune Deliveries could offer their drivers, though, so Denki was stuck in the cockpit of one, praying that his wings would hold together for his long trip to the Plutonian colonies.

As a rookie driver (at least, the only rookie dumb enough to accept), Denki had agreed to deliver a shipment of government supplies to the colonies. It was a two week long journey at best, and he’d already been slowed by a violent solar storm which had knocked out his ship’s power systems for a day, along with engine troubles around the asteroid belt. Now he’d managed to clear Saturn’s outer rings and was ready to turn on autopilot for the night and let the ship continue to drift towards the edge of the solar system while he slept. Just as he’d sat back and begun configuring the trajectory, a warning alarm sounded. Denki groaned and forced himself to sit up properly, dropping the bag of chips he’d been munching on. He looked over the sensors, doing the systems check that had practically become second nature during the last week, until he found the problem. The aft solar array had been hit, probably by a particularly large meteorite or some other sort of space debris, and the panels were disconnected. Solar power wasn’t of much use to Denki anymore, but he couldn’t get the alarms to stop no matter what he pressed, and the nearest fuel station wasn’t for another hundred light seconds in the wrong direction. 

Denki groaned and whined to himself as he pulled on his EVA suit and grabbed his toolbox. He stepped out of the airlock then deactivated his gravity boots, jumping off the side of the ship and floating towards the tail. He grabbed onto a large spike protruding from the top of the tail and turned his boots back on so he could walk down the spike to the solar array. The panels themselves were fine, but a section of wires were shredded and part of the generator’s cover had been broken off, exposing wires and circuit boards. Denki sighed, found a wire stripper in the toolbox, and got to work, pulling the rubber ends off the broken wires and twisting them back together to solder. 

With a burst of light, another ship pulled up beside Denki’s. This ship was visibly damaged, with the cockpit windows smashed in and one of the wings completely destroyed, covered in scorch marks and peppered with holes likely left by exploding ammunition. Denki looked up, surprised, and squinted at the remains of the cockpit, trying to figure out if anyone was inside.

“Move it!”

Denki yelped as he was shoved aside. Someone in an EVA suit ran over the top of the ship and pulled into the airlock. He dropped the soldering iron he was holding and bent down, flicking the switch on his boots so he could push off the side of the ship. He wasn’t fast enough, though, and the airlock sucked itself shut. Denki screamed as the engines fired on, yelling, “no! Wait! That’s my ship!” but the roar of the warp drive drowned him out. He grabbed the first thing he could reach as the ship began to gain speed, and held onto the side of the generator for dear life, wrapping wires around his hands like a rope. The ship accelerated faster and faster, making Denki dizzy and filling his vision with spots. The ship turned from side to side and pitched and rolled, its new pilot trying to throw him off. When that didn’t work, they turned on the aft solar array’s power transfer system, meant to help jump another ship if it lost power. 300 million volts surged from the broken wires, right into the thin gloves of Denki’s EVA suit.

The last thing Denki remembered was a searing pain that spidered through his body. When he awoke, his mouth was open, but he wasn’t screaming. He tried to move, but found that he was stuck on the ground. The air smelled burnt and his mouth tasted like metal and acrid, charred plastic. He groaned, blinking a few times before he realized he was in a ship. He slowly sat up, staring down at himself. His EVA suit was destroyed, singed through and torn in places. He glanced over at the burnt remains of his helmet next to him then looked up, eyeing the front of the two-seater cockpit he was in. He tried to speak but his voice came out in a spluttering cough, then a hoarse whisper. He cleared his throat a few times before finally asking, “wh-what happened?”

“Hey! You’re up!” A red-haired man jumped up from one of the seats and ran over to kneel by him and help him stand up. “Come on, let’s get you in a seat. That’ll be more comfortable than the floor,” he laughed and wrapped an arm around Denki, holding most of his weight as he walked him to the other seat and laid him into it. “Dude, I was so worried you were dead,” the man’s eyes widened, “you were shaking all over when I got you and your eyes kept rolling back in your head. I thought you were gonna choke on your spit or your heart was gonna stop or something!”

Denki grimaced and swallowed, almost as though to make sure he wasn’t going to choke. He carefully probed his fingers against the palm of his right hand, where burnt flecks of fabric stuck to his red, blistering skin. He whimpered and the man looked over, brows furrowed. “I don’t really know much first aid or anything. I can get you some cool water in a bit, though,” he gave a sympathetic grin and patted the armrest on Denki’s seat. “My name’s Eijiro, by the way. Eijiro Kirishima.”

“Denki Kaminari,” he replied, letting out a wince of pain at the sharp ache in his chest that came when he spoke.

“Alright, Denki, you’re gonna want to hold on tight. Now that I know you’re still alive, I’m getting back on course to chase down that dickwad who stole your ship. You ready?” He waited until Denki nodded before grabbing a lever next to the yoke and pushing it all the way up. There was a loud, mechanical noise as the engines fired up to their maximum capacity and the ship jolted forward, forcing Denki to breathe hard through the pain shooting up his torso. Eijiro reached out and gently rested his hand on Denki’s shoulder, wincing at the sight of the other man panting with his eyes squeezed shut. “Don’t worry. I’ll get your ship back, and then we’ll take a proper look at your injuries.” 

Thankfully, Eijiro’s ship was able to quickly catch up with Denki’s. Whoever they were following had chosen a terrible getaway vehicle. 

“That man in there is a bank robber: Kurogiri. I’ve been on his tail a few days now and he figured it out an hour or so ago. I’ve been chasing him ever since, and I guess his ship just sustained too much damage so he took yours. Don’t worry, though, I’ve got this.” Eijiro grinned and pressed the yoke forward. He pressed a button, and a mechanical whirr signaled that he’d lowered the two machine guns stored beneath his ship’s wings. He was going to try to damage Denki’s ship as little as possible, but he knew it was just fast enough that he couldn’t grab it to dock from this position.

The Commodore rolled to the side and Eijiro followed. A mechanical arm, meant to be used as an anchor or to assist with landing in odd places, emerged from the side of the ship. The hulking mess of metal and wires turned towards the nose of Eijiro’s ship and he quickly dodged, then pressed a button to activate the machine gun. He tried to aim for the crevice between the wing and the ship’s body, hoping that would make it easier to repair, and let loose a barrage of bullets. Denki winced as he watched the wing peel away from the side of the ship and let out a rusty groan as it fell into the endless abyss of space. 

“Wait- go for the solar array.” Denki lifted his arm to gesture in the direction of the aft solar array, which he’d been repairing. “It’s already damaged, and the generator has been running off its reserves. You should be able to get the power supply to stop working, and it’ll, um- the ship will go all dark and all the alarms will start.”

Eijiro carefully steered the ship, tilting it a little more to the side until he could lock the solar array in the gun’s sight. He pressed the button, letting out a whoop when the solar array exploded, sending chunks of metal and broken wire flying. He saw the lights go out in the cockpit and took that opportunity to release a large net from the front of his ship. It caught on the nose of the Commodore and the slower ship sputtered, the one remaining propeller engine tangling in the net’s wire rope and slowing.

“You stay there. I’m docking our ships together and I’ll apprehend the criminal.” Eijiro leapt up from his seat and pulled the zipper on his EVA suit all the way up. He fastened on a helmet hanging off the wall then jumped through his ship’s bottom airlock onto Denki’s ship.

Now that the excitement was over, Denki began to truly feel the impact of his injuries. His hands were burned so badly that the skin had turned black in places, and he found it even more worrying that these parts didn’t hurt- in fact, he couldn’t feel them at all when he touched them. The worst of the pain, though, came from inside him. He’d never thought he could feel pain in his heart, but obviously, he was wrong. He gingerly brought two fingers to his neck, feeling his pulse. It seemed normal, but he didn’t know enough to feel certain. Denki brought his hand back to his lap and leaned into the chair with a groan. He was pretty sure his ribs were broken, and even just resting against the leather upholstery made him ache. 

“Denki?”

He turned his head to see Eijiro emerge from the airlock, holding up an unconscious man also dressed in an EVA suit. Eijiro deposited the man on the floor, then handcuffed him to a railing that separated the cockpit from the rest of the ship. 

“The damage to your ship is really serious. There’s a breach somewhere near where the wing broke off, and it’s losing pressure. If there’s anything in there that you need, I’m going to have to get it quickly. We have to release your ship and get a safe distance away before it explodes.”

Denki’s mouth opened in shock. He tried to get up from the seat, but a sharp wave of pain and nausea came over him and he slumped back with a groan. 

“Hey, hey, take it easy!” Eijiro reached out a hand as though to stop him from moving. “What do you need me to grab?”

“M-my wallet…” Denki chewed his lower lip. He didn’t have many belongings, but he knew none of them (besides the money) were more important than the cargo he was carrying. “And the boxes, in the cargo bay. They need to get to the Plutonian colonies- I’m a delivery driver.”

Eijiro frowned and nodded. “I’ll get that all, I promise. And we can take the boxes to the colonies. It’s the least I can do. I mean, I just destroyed your ship.”

Eijiro pulled his EVA helmet back on and left the airlock once more. He knew it was dangerous to reenter Denki’s ship; the pressure stabilizers could only hold out for so long, and an explosion was imminent. He had to make good on his promise, though. After all, this was in part his fault. Eijiro quickly found the wallet sitting on top of a stack of cardboard boxes that he assumed held Denki’s belongings. He slipped it into the pack strapped to his chest, then turned towards the back of the ship, where heavy-duty crates were stacked in neat rows. They wouldn’t be easy to carry in the ships’ artificial gravity, but he wasn’t going to risk opening the cargo bay, in case the difference in pressure caused an explosion and sent their ships and the crates rocketing off in different directions. Instead, Eijiro awkwardly lifted the first box and, struggling slightly, carried it through the airlock. He did this twelve more times until the crates filled his ship. He’d find space for them later. At the moment, his biggest concern was getting away from the Commodore, which was starting to hiss and whine as the pressure stabilizers failed. 

“Just one more big push, okay? And then I’ll put us on autopilot and take care of you,” Eijiro promised as he sat back down in the cockpit. He did a manual check on his ship’s pressurization, then maneuvered to untangle the net from the Commodore. The airlocks clicked as they broke apart and Eijiro accelerated once more, narrowly escaping just as Denki’s ship exploded, silent in the vacuum of space. Denki managed to turn and look out the window, watching his temporary home go to pieces. Eijiro frowned and tilted the yoke to the side, making sure they weren’t anywhere near the line of the blast in case some debris somehow made it to his ship. “I’m really sorry about everything. It was really shitty of that guy to steal your ship, and I’m sorry I had to destroy it.”

Denki turned to look at Eijiro. He wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t seem upset either. “I don’t really care. That wasn’t my ship anyway, it was the delivery company’s, and they have insurance on it probably. Besides, it was shitty. Stupid thing never wanted to run right,” he explained. “As long as the cargo gets where it’s supposed to go and I get paid, I don’t care.”

The knowledge made Eijiro feel better. He still felt bad about Denki’s belongings, which he hadn’t been able to save in time, but what was really important was that they hadn’t been caught in the explosion. His ship could withstand a lot, but he didn’t want to take any chances. 

Eijiro shifted to sit on his heels with his legs tucked under him. He pulled up a map on the cockpit’s window display and tugged the yoke from side to side until his ship was set on course towards the Plutonian colonies. From there, it was expected to be a 20 hour long journey, much quicker than Denki’s Commodore could have managed. Once the trajectory was set, he pulled up another screen, this one showing the face of the man he’d captured, along with the number ‘2,500’ emblazoned underneath his picture. 

“You’re a bounty hunter?” Denki asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

“Yeah. Is that… is that an issue?”

Denki forced himself to shake his head. “No- I just, I thought maybe you were part of the police or something, that’s all,” he went to rub a hand over the back of his neck but hissed with pain at the movement. 

“Hey, Denki?” Eijiro stood up and looked down at him, concern in his eyes. This was the first time Denki had managed to get a good look at him, and he couldn’t help but stare at the rows of razor-sharp teeth peeking out between his parted lips. He must have been a mutant. 

“Denki? You with me?”

He nodded quickly and looked away, realizing he’d been staring.

“Let’s get you to the bathroom and you can take a cold shower and maybe that will help your burns. After we drop off your cargo, I’ll find a hospital to take you to. They’ll be able to help you a lot better than I can.”

“No!”

Eijiro looked startled at Denki’s sudden outburst. He furrowed his brows and looked down at him, wondering for a second if he had a deathwish. 

“N-no. I can’t go to a hospital. I just- please, I can’t,” Denki’s heart pounded and he swore he felt it skip a beat. He realized how hard he was breathing and tried to force himself to calm down, realizing his behavior seemed suspicious. It was too late, though, and Eijiro had already seen him panic. He had no idea how to explain himself, and he was bad at lying, so instead he just sat there, hoping that by some sort of fluke Eijiro would just change the subject and move on.

Eijiro looked down at the man in front of him and decided this wasn’t worth fighting about. He didn’t know anything about him at all. For all he knew, Denki could have had some sort of terrible fear of hospitals or something like that. He wasn’t going to push it. “Is it okay if I carry you?” he asked, knowing he wouldn’t be able to get Denki down the ladder into the ship’s living area otherwise. When Denki nodded, he knelt down and helped the man climb onto his back. He heard him whimper a little every time Eijiro shifted him, so he tried to be as slow and steady as possible as he carried him to the edge of the cockpit and climbed down the ladder into the belly of the ship.

There was a small kitchen and a living room with a couch and a TV. A set of weights sat in a corner along with a red bicycle on a stand. There were two doors at one end of the room and Eijiro nudged one open, turning on the lights in the bathroom. It was small, with a shower on one side and a toilet and sink on the other. Eijiro set Denki down on the toilet and stood back, frowning a little. “You can borrow some of my clothes. And I know I have a first aid kit somewhere. I can help you bandage everything up.” He knelt down and searched through the cabinet beneath the sink until he found a little red bag with a white cross on the front and set it by a mug with a toothbrush in it. He’d never dealt with injuries this severe and didn’t feel at all confident, but he had to do something, especially if Denki was going to refuse to go to the hospital. “I’ll be right back, okay?” he asked, waiting until Denki nodded to leave the room. He came back a few minutes later with a fluffy blue towel and a little stack of clothes. Denki was a lot smaller than him in terms of both height and muscle, so he wasn’t worried about the clothes fitting him. He still picked out the baggiest sweater and pajama pants he owned, not wanting any tight fabric irritating Denki’s burns.

“Thank you,” Denki mumbled, eyeing the shower a little suspiciously. He was a little afraid to get under it, in case the cool water made him hurt more, or the pressure of the water hurt his broken ribs. 

“It’s no problem, man. I’m just glad you’re alive. I was worried when I found you that you weren’t.”

“How bad-” Denki swallowed and shook his head. He didn’t think he wanted to know, especially if he was refusing to be treated at the hospital. 

They stayed there in silence for a moment before Eijiro spoke up once more, a little more awkwardly this time. “Hey, do you want me to help you get out of your suit? It’s just- I know it’s hard normally, and your hands…” He looked down at Denki’s blackened palm, where burns traced over the spots where he’d held onto the wires. 

Denki had to force himself not to panic again. He just shook his head and focused on leveling his breathing. He didn’t want to seem suspicious. “No. I can- I can handle it.”

Eijiro frowned, but he understood. Denki barely knew him, and he really didn’t have too much reason to trust him. Still, he at least had to offer something, more for his peace of mind. “I’m gonna sit outside, though. And if you need me, just tell me.” He thought back to how he’d found Denki, his whole body convulsing from the electrical current. Even though he seemed lucid now, Eijiro was still afraid that something could change. “And I know I said I wouldn’t make you go to the hospital, but if you can’t handle your injuries or you get worse, I’m taking you. I’m not letting you die because you’re stubborn.”

“Okay.”

Eijiro gave a small, relieved smile and gently nudged Denki’s shoulder with his knuckles. “You’re going to be okay, okay? And once the hard part’s over, I’ll get you somewhere comfy and you can have something to eat and get some sleep.” He met Denki’s eyes, making sure he could see that he was serious about him being alright.

Once Eijiro had left the room and Denki heard him plop down on the ground outside, he got started on taking off the suit. It was a difficult ordeal, mostly because he could barely move his left hand at all, and his right hand wasn’t much better off. The suit had been burned open and torn in many places, though, and he was eventually able to peel the fabric away from his body until all that was left was a metal ring around his neck where the helmet attached. He carefully lifted it off, adding it to the pile of singed fabric, on top of the control panel that had once been on the front of his suit. 

The harder part, though, was getting his binder off. The technology hadn’t changed in centuries and the fabric was still tight and solid against his chest. He struggled to even get a few fingers under it and as soon as he touched his ribs, they were on fire. Tears squeezed out of the corners of his eyes, and as he tried to lift the binder, he unconsciously let out a loud sob of pain. 

“Denki?” Eijiro yelled from outside the door, jumping up to open it.

“I-I’m fine,” Denki breathed, tears dribbling down his face. “P-please don’t come in. Please.”

Eijiro’s heart sank and he nodded. “Okay. But if you need help, please ask me. I don’t want you to hurt yourself even more.”

Denki chewed his lip as he tried to figure out what to do. He gritted his teeth and hooked his fingers under the fabric again, breathing harshly as he lifted it. More tears wet his cheeks and he sobbed quietly until he managed to get the binder off his chest and to his upper arms. He stopped there, chest heaving with relief as his breathing was no longer constricted. After a few moments of just standing there with his arms over his head, Denki managed to pull his binder up to his forearms and let it drop to the floor. He stared down at it, blinking away tears so he could look at where the fabric was singed and torn in spots. This was all he had left; his other binder had been lost when his ship exploded. He’d have to make do. 

Finally, Denki managed to get a good look at himself in the mirror. It took a few moments for him to realize this was him- where his skin had been smooth and soft before, only marked by a tattoo of a koi fish on his right forearm, it was now covered in burns, stretching across his arms and torso in the branching shape of lightning. Denki stared down at his stomach, tracing a finger over the raised, red skin. Before he knew it, tears had filled his eyes again and he was crying, much more softly this time. He sat back down on the toilet, unable to take his eyes off his reflection.

Eijiro’s voice came once more, quieter and less panicked this time. “Hey, Denki, what’s going on?”

“It’s- it’s nothing. The burns are just- they’re worse than I thought,” he ended in a whisper, sniffling as he stared at a particularly bad patch reaching up the back of his arm. 

“Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No… I’m fine…” 

Eijiro gave a defeated sigh. Denki really was stubborn. He stood up and rested his hand on the wall, right next to the doorknob, ready to open it in case he heard anything else to indicate that the man’s pain was getting worse. Eventually, he heard the sound of the shower starting and sat back down, pulling out his phone to look up how to properly treat burns. It said that people who were burned could be very easily dehydrated, so once he’d heard the shower going for a little and was sure that Denki was alright, he got up and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. 

He also read that people who had been burned should check with their doctors about taking ibuprofen. Since Denki refused to see a doctor, Eijiro decided he had enough authority to make a decision, and grabbed a bottle of ibuprofen from his cabinet. He shook out two pills onto a paper towel, then poured some crackers onto a plate. He’d make something more later, but for the moment that was enough. Eijiro resumed his place on the floor next to the bathroom door, scrolling through his phone as he waited for Denki to emerge.

The cool water of the shower felt good on Denki’s burns and he was able to breathe properly for the first time that day. Washing off his hands was an unpleasant ordeal, and he closed his eyes for most of it, but Eijiro had been right- the hard part was over. He stood under the cool water for a long time until he had begun to shiver, then finally turned the water off and got out. He was careful when he toweled off, just patting himself dry. He then slowly pulled on the boxers and pajama pants Eijiro had brought him. They were both much too big for his slim waist, and he wasn’t able to tie up the strings on the pants, but he was at least alright with asking Eijiro for help with that. 

The binder, though, was more of an issue. Denki’s fingers couldn’t grip and his chest hurt terribly, but he knew he had to put it back on. Otherwise, it would look suspicious for him to come out still holding onto what looked like a sports bra, and he couldn’t have his cover blown. He was already taking a risk just by being around a bounty hunter.

The last of Denki’s energy went into forcing the binder back on. He kept as quiet as he could, knowing that if Eijiro heard him crying, he’d get worried and try to come in. He grit his teeth and breathed hard, trying to get his numb fingers to tug the fabric back down. It took a long time, and once he was done, Denki felt exhausted and the ache in his chest only grew worse. He forced himself to pull on the T-shirt he’d been offered too, then opened the door, leaning against the wall because his legs were unsteady.

“Hey,” Eijiro said softly. He could see that Denki’s eyes were red and wet with tears, and he looked exhausted. He stood up and guided Denki to sit down on the floor across from him, then went and got the first aid kit off the counter. “I got you some ibuprofen, for the pain. And some water; it said online that burns can dehydrate you.”

Denki reached out and tried to pick up the pills, but his hands just wouldn’t work. He sighed softly and hung his head.

“Here, I’ve got you,” Eijiro murmured. He picked up the pills and waited until Denki stuck out his tongue to set them in his mouth. He picked up the glass of water, too, and carefully lifted it to Denki’s lips. Denki drank the whole thing, obviously parched, then leaned forward, breathing hard. He was visibly exhausted and Eijiro wanted to get him to bed. He still had to deal with his injuries, though, so he reached out, setting his hand under Denki’s left forearm, the side that seemed to be the worst. 

“I think these two fingers are broken,” Denki indicated his pointer and middle finger with his other hand.

Eijiro nodded and unzipped the first aid kit. He found some medical tape, then got up and went to the kitchen, rifling through drawers until he found a flat metal bottle opener. It would have to do. He returned to sit in front of Denki and gently set his hand on his thigh. “This is gonna hurt a little, okay?” he warned, taking the two fingers in his hand. He gently prodded at them until they looked straight, sucking in a breath at Denki’s whimpers. He placed the bottle opener under the two fingers and started tightly winding the tape around them until they were pressed together against the metal. Denki cried out softly when Eijiro pressed his hand against the top of his fingers, to make sure they were bound as tightly as possible, and Eijiro gently shushed him, reaching out instinctively to pet his wet hair. 

“You did so good. I’ve just got to bandage up your arms, okay? We’re almost done.” Denki gave a shaky nod and Eijiro ran his fingers over a section of his blonde hair once more to reassure him, before taking out a tube of antibacterial ointment and a roll of gauze. He rolled up one of Denki’s sleeves, gently stroking his skin when the man’s breath hitched at the sight of the burns. Eijiro thought the lightning pattern looked cool, but he decided not to say anything. Denki was hurting enough, and he decided it was probably better not to mention it at all. Instead, he focused on rubbing the ointment over the burns and gently wrapping the gauze around the man’s arms until they were both wrapped up well. 

“What about your chest? And your stomach?” Eijiro asked. He’d seen that the worst of the burns were on Denki’s arms, but he didn’t know about the rest of him.

Denki shook his head and looked down at the floor. “I’m fine. They’re not… they’re not that bad.”

Eijiro nodded. Denki knew his body best, and he didn’t want to fight him on it. The man looked so tired, anyway, that he didn’t see any reason in pushing him. He packed the first aid kit back up, then washed his hands and knelt down by Denki’s side. “I’m gonna carry you again, as long as that’s okay. I’ll be gentle, I promise. You can have my bed, you need some rest.”

Denki didn’t protest when Eijiro rested one arm against his shoulder blades and held the other under his knees. He leaned against the larger man’s chest, eyes closing as he was lifted up and carried. After that, all he registered was being set down on a soft bed, his head carefully rested on a pillow, and a blanket tucked over him. He faintly heard Eijiro say something, which he assumed was a goodnight, before he fell asleep, unable to stay awake any longer.


End file.
